Neither a mystical land of fantastic riches, nor a freakish unholy pit of dishonest vipers and shattered dreams.
Personally I think it's both of those things :-)
Trading is perhaps the ultimate convex work, to borrow Michael O. Church's term. A few extremely skilled people can pull money out of the market like magic. But the average trader's performance is worse than just buying a major index fund. And those of us below average (I am still in this group, alas) can pretty much count on losing money.
Your point that trading takes effort and capital that could be directed in other ways is well stated.
Personally I think it's both of those things :-)
Trading is perhaps the ultimate convex work, to borrow Michael O. Church's term. A few extremely skilled people can pull money out of the market like magic. But the average trader's performance is worse than just buying a major index fund. And those of us below average (I am still in this group, alas) can pretty much count on losing money.
Your point that trading takes effort and capital that could be directed in other ways is well stated.